Thursday, July 23, 2009

First Entry Hitch Around Sweden

Alrighty, so once again the time has come for a new adventure/challenge/trip.This trip I’ve been thinking about for a quite a while, especially while hitching around Oz.So it’s my homeland, Sweden, which is the goal this time. And not just a normal hitch around, I’ll try to do it as cheap as it possible can get. My goal is to keep it under 25SEK a day (that’s about 2,3€ or 3,3US$ a day).Why do such a trip one might ask?Well there’s again the reasons why I did the Oz hitch, I just love hitching and everything surrounding it and I want to show people that it isn’t as dangerous as they think.I also got asked a lot about Sweden when travelling, how it looks and what’s worth seeing there and similar questions. And frankly I have no idea; I’ve spent almost my whole life in the Skåne region (the most southern part of Sweden) where I’ve grown up. So I thought it was about time I set out to see my own country before I see the rest of the world. Then there’s the money issue, I think we live in such a spending society where everything costs so much and we just waste money on everything, just go to a cafe and you spend some 60SEK on a sandwich and another 25SEK on a coffee. Take the train into town and you lose another 50-100SEK. Go to the movies, have some snacks and you’ll end up paying 200SEK.I know most people like their lives like this, a bit of luxury in the everyday life. But I don’t. I prefer to work less and enjoy my life by seeing the world because I consider my life to short to work all the time. And if this means cutting down on everything, so may be it.I know living on 25SEK is a bit extreme, hell Lonely Planet recommends a budget of 1200SEK a day when travelling Sweden, about 600kr if you live in hostels most the time and do plenty of cooking on your own. So it will be a challenge, and I’m not totally sure if it’s doable in this country considering the prices of everything. But Ill sure as hell give it my best try! So I’ve borrowed some books about Sweden at the library and found out what I want to see, and now I’m packed and ready to leave!Ground rules for this trip? Well basically there is only two:

- I will by all means possible try to keep the budget under 25SEK a day in average, this means I won’t be sleeping at hostels or eating at any restaurants/fast-food places or, sadly, going on tours. If I do make any money during the trip (recycling, working) I may at the most use 100SEK of the money I make in one day.

- I am not allowed to ride with the same vehicle/people more then 2 consecutive days.

There is some places I wont be going to though: Gotland, which is Sweden’s largest island in the middle of the Batlic Sea. It probably isn’t impossible to hitch there (quite a long boat trip) but I don’t consider myself to have the time to give it a try.Stockholm, because it’s just too darn expensive! I already lived and worked there (1 month last year). Biggest problem would be though to get in and out of the city without spending any money.Skåne, well I’ve grown up here so I already seen most the things worth seeing.Gothenburg, I haven’t quite decided on Gothenburg yet, second largest city in Sweden. Never been there before though.

Sadly on this trip I do have a time limit, because I have booked flight tickets to Malaysia on the 12th of October, but hopefully Ill get to see everything I want by then.Well that’s it, I do have some more challenges to myself like I did on the last trip, but I will keep these to myself because I’m not very good at finishing them :P

1 comment:

Hitching

Once again I am back in Sweden. Because I had a baby daughter on the 4th of March and being broke I don't have any travel plans at the moment, first I need to make sure I have money so I can support my daughter and then I can start preparing for my next adventure :)